7 



men are apparently especially adapted to this kind of work, and do everything with ease and despatch. 

 Their perceptions are quick and always on the alert, and they seem to have a perfect intuition as to the 

 proper amount of lime needed for a certain kind of juice, as they will often get the right quantity at the 

 first attempt, if not at the second The ability of catching quickly the proper amount of lime is a great 

 advantage particularly if the Cane changes to any great extent. 



Liming the Juice. 



As there are different ways of testing the juice, so there are different ways of preparing the lime, 

 »nd also different ways of applying it. In fact, there are almost as many ways of doing this work as 

 there are mills; and each one claims some advantage for their own particular method. 



In clarifying the juice, there are but three different methods of treating it ; the first, and undoubt- 

 edlv the best, is to first ascertain the quantity needed by the test mentioned above, then weigh the same 

 amount for each succeeding elarifier, put it in a bucket, slake it with water, then fill the bucket with 

 juice, u'id apply the whole of this solution to the liquid in the elarifier, and mix it well together. In 

 some cases, instead of putting the whole amount of this lime in at once, half is put in when the elarifier 

 is about one-third full, and the balance when the elarifier is two-thirds full. 



By weighing the lime for each elarifier, one knows to a certainty the exact quantity to put in each 

 one and knows also that unless the juice changes to any extent the clarifying will be done right. 



The second method is to tuke u bair*-l of lime, slake it in a large quantity of water, reduce the mix- 

 ture to about ten degrees B., and apply a certain number of gallons to each elarifier; but the trouble 

 with this method is to get tli3 men to keep it at the proper density ; little do they care whether it stands 

 at two degrees B., or twenty degrees B., as long as they give it the right number of gallons; and in 

 consequence, by adopting this method the work is rarely done well. 



The third method is to run the lime water into the clarifiers in a continual stream, and ulso clarify 

 the juice continuously. Neither method is thought much of, and they are rarely used in modern mills. 



Liming the Juice in the Cleaning Pans. 



Quite a number of Sugar-boilers lime their juice in the cleaning pans. This method under certain 

 circumstances and with certain kinds of Cane, is undoubtedly a gieat advantage to the perfect cleaning of 

 the juice. Indeed, in some cases, the lime is no sooner put in thun the colour of the juice is changed as 

 if bv ma^ic. The foam, w hich is of a dark colour is instantly changed to a bright yellow, and sparkling 

 all over with bubbles about the size of a ten cent piece, while the juice looks as clear as crystal. 



Liming the Juice in the Juice-tanks. 



This is also, undoubtedly, a great advantage, especially when the juice stands all night. Indeed I 

 have been informed by one of the best managers on this Island, that at his mill they gained as much as 

 one degree polarization by this simple method. 



Liming the first Juice in thv. Vacuum Pan. 



There are quite a number of persons, and even many Sugar-boilers, who have never heard of this 

 practice, yet it has been in constant use in some of the mills for the last two jears. In using lime in 

 the vacuum pan, it is claimed the firsl sugar is of a better colour and harder grain besides keeping better, 

 the polarization being nearly as good at the Coast, as when it left the mill. 



What particular advantage this method has, I know not, but I do know that they have got the 

 highest polarization of any mill on this Island. These mills use four pounds of lime for each strike of 

 sugar. 



In the manufacture of sugar, there seems to bo a growing disposition to use more lime. Lime 

 high is now the watch-word, and the aim and object of most of the manufacturers. 



But this is a matter which may be carried too far, and instead of it effecting a savingmay entail a loss. 

 I have been watching this matter with great interest for a great many years. I have watched it also, 

 under almost all kiuds of circumstances and conditions, and in various places, and have come to certain 

 conclusions which do not coincide with this growing demand for more lime. I do believe, however, that 

 lime can be used to advantage (at times) in the cleaning-pans, and always in the juice- tanks, and also in 

 the vacuum pans. But I protest against this overliming business, as far as the clarifiers are concerned, 

 because any excess of lime in clarifying effects an evil which cannot be remedied at any future stage of 

 the work. If such juice were to pass through a process of " saturation," then it might be an advantage, 

 but waen this is not done, then it is a positive injury. 



In the first place it greatly retards the boiling and cleaning of the juice ; it also takes more steam 

 to do the work, and costs more both for labour and fuel. In the second place it discolours the juice 

 and darkens the sugar, and effects innumerable evils besides. And further than this, I have noticed 

 that the best juice to boil, to clean and to grain, and that which made the cleanest and best coloured 

 sugar, was juice which had been treated with a minimum quantity of lime in clarifying, and that juice 

 which was hardest to boil, to clean and to grain, and which made the darkest and worst sugar, was juice 

 which had been treated with an excess of lime in clarifying. 



Making No. 1 Sugar. 



Next to the importance of defecting the juice, is that of boiling it in the vacuum pan. This is by 

 far the finest, best, and most interesting part of a Sugat-boiler's duty, and it is doubtful if there is any- 

 thing more beautiful in the science of crystallization than in this process of taking the liquid, and by 

 slow and almost imperceptible degrees, transforming it into a solid, into perfect crystals that are as 

 symmetrical, if not as beautiful, as the crystals of a snow-flake. 



